UCSD Scientist Wins No. 1 Award
Harmon Craig, the geochemist and oceanographer at UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography who witnessed the eruption of an underwater volcano in the Pacific Ocean last month, has been chosen a co-recipient of the top award in the field of earth sciences.
Scripps officials announced Wednesday that Craig, 61, and Wallace Broecker, a geochemist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, have been selected for the Vetlesen Prize.
Will Get Medal, $50,000
The award, which includes a gold medal and $50,000 apiece, recognizes “achievement in the sciences resulting in a clear understanding of the earth, its history or its relation to the universe.”
It is awarded by the trustees of Columbia University in association with the G. Unger Vetlesen Foundation. It was last given in 1981.
“Drs. Broecker and Craig have, between them, done more to characterize the chemistry of the oceans and its exchange with the atmosphere and the solid earth than any other scientists anywhere,” according to a statement released by the selection panel. “The implications of their work have been vast.”
Both scientists have studied the atmospheric accumulation of gases contributing to the global warming known as the greenhouse effect. In the 1970s, they were among the four organizers of the Geochemical Ocean Sections Study, an international project to investigate the chemical and isotopic properties of the oceans.
